Q: How do you find the time to do all you do -- write, blog, garden, cook, read, teach, publicity for your books, et cetera, et cetera... ?
A: I'm always embarrassed when I get this question from people who read my blog because the simple answer is that I don't do as much as my blog may lead you to think. There are weeds and dust bunnies and unmet deadlines and unfinished projects of every ilk all around me.
What I want to know is how people with day jobs manage to write novels.
But, people invariably ask when I do a talk, what kind of schedule do you have for writing?
And I always have to say that I write when I can.
There are many writers who keep office hours(and stay off the Internet during those hours) -- and I know I should try to do the same -- but I don't.
I've written six books now (seven if we count the first and unpublished one,) mostly at night between eight and midnight (or later.) This seems to be when my brain gets into the writing mode. There are times (especially as deadlines near or zoom past) when I attempt to write most of the day but for whatever reason, those late night hours are the most fertile.
Not very helpful, if you're a beginning writer, seeking advice on how to structure a writing day. But I suspect that everyone has to find his/her own best time and place to write. I know that rising at some ungodly hour of dark-thirty probably isn't going to work for me -- though many writers swear by putting in several hours before dawn.
The single piece of advice that I have for most writers, as far as finding time to write is: Don't watch television. For many people, that's several hours a day you could be writing.
Or stay off the Internet. . . ouch.
If you really want to write, you'll find a way . . . and the time.
A: I'm always embarrassed when I get this question from people who read my blog because the simple answer is that I don't do as much as my blog may lead you to think. There are weeds and dust bunnies and unmet deadlines and unfinished projects of every ilk all around me.
What I want to know is how people with day jobs manage to write novels.
But, people invariably ask when I do a talk, what kind of schedule do you have for writing?
And I always have to say that I write when I can.
There are many writers who keep office hours(and stay off the Internet during those hours) -- and I know I should try to do the same -- but I don't.
I've written six books now (seven if we count the first and unpublished one,) mostly at night between eight and midnight (or later.) This seems to be when my brain gets into the writing mode. There are times (especially as deadlines near or zoom past) when I attempt to write most of the day but for whatever reason, those late night hours are the most fertile.
Not very helpful, if you're a beginning writer, seeking advice on how to structure a writing day. But I suspect that everyone has to find his/her own best time and place to write. I know that rising at some ungodly hour of dark-thirty probably isn't going to work for me -- though many writers swear by putting in several hours before dawn.
The single piece of advice that I have for most writers, as far as finding time to write is: Don't watch television. For many people, that's several hours a day you could be writing.
Or stay off the Internet. . . ouch.
If you really want to write, you'll find a way . . . and the time.
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